Global estimates of fishing gear lost to the ocean each year

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Conflicts of Interest

Identified Weaknesses

Rating Explanation

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Paper Summary

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Fishers Lose a Lot of Gear, But Less Than Previously Thought

This study estimates that nearly 2% of all fishing gear is lost annually, including significant amounts of gillnets, purse seine nets, trawl nets, longlines, and pots and traps. While this represents a large amount of lost gear, it is lower than some previous, less comprehensive estimates. The study used fisher interviews combined with global fishing effort data to reach these estimates.

Possible Conflicts of Interest

None identified

Identified Weaknesses

Self-reporting bias

The study relied on fishers accurately reporting their gear losses, which could be subject to recall bias or social desirability bias (underreporting losses to avoid negative perceptions).

Limited geographic scope

While the study included diverse countries, only one country was surveyed per region, limiting the representativeness of the global estimates. More data from more locations would strengthen the findings.

Focus on commercial fisheries

The study primarily focused on commercial fishing, excluding recreational and artisanal fisheries which may have different loss patterns and contribute significantly to the overall ALDFG.

Rating Explanation

The study provides valuable new estimates of global fishing gear loss using a comprehensive approach combining fisher interviews and global fishing effort data. While self-reporting bias and limited geographic scope are limitations, the methodological approach and findings contribute substantially to our understanding of this important issue.

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